A Truman Atrocity

1689 Words7 Pages
A Truman Atrocity Thesis: The Atomic Bomb should have never been used on Japan under any circumstances because it was completely unnecessary and morally wrong. Just over 66 years ago, a tragedy happened. The United States committed a terrible war crime that was never brought to justice. Hundreds of thousands, of innocent people died. Lives were lost, families were destroyed. This was all because the US decided to wipe two cities off the map in Japan. This was done with the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.”(William Leahy) The Atomic Bomb should have never been used on Japan under any circumstances because it was completely unnecessary and morally wrong. The decision that Harry Truman made, was the biggest mistake of his life. Not only did he condemn hundreds of thousands of people to death, he also went against everything that the United States stood for. Japan was already on the verge of losing the war, and was getting closer to surrendering. Carpet bombing had been going on in Japan for the last couple months and these incendiary bombs were killing civilians. This was something that the US never wanted to happen. Roosevelt would not have had it happen; yet Truman did it anyway. This was one of the morals that Truman went against.”One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.”(Paul Nitse) He did not want to see innocent civilians killed because Truman was making a rational decision. Furthermore, Truman went against the one war doctrine that should be used when making decisions in a war. It is called the “Just War” doctrine. It
Open Document